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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The use of even a small number of nuclear weapons
3could have catastrophic human, environmental, health, and
4economic consequences globally; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Approximately 14,000 nuclear weapons still exist
6in the world and pose an intolerable risk to humanity; and
 
7    WHEREAS, The United States has over 6,000 nuclear weapons,
8which combined are more than 100 times more powerful than all
9the weapons used during World War II; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The United States is currently planning to spend
11nearly $2 trillion over the next 30 years rebuilding its entire
12nuclear weapons arsenal; this is a gross misuse of funds that
13could instead be devoted to improving security, health, and
14education; and
 
15    WHEREAS, The United States maintains nearly 1,000 nuclear
16weapons on high alert so they are ready for launch within
17minutes of a presidential decision to do so, making them
18vulnerable to accidents, unauthorized use, cyber attacks, and
19miscalculations, thereby increasing the risk of nuclear use;
20and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The United States currently reserves the right to
2use nuclear weapons in response to non-nuclear attacks by
3Russia, China, or North Korea, nations that could respond by
4using their own nuclear weapons, resulting in a nuclear war
5that could have devastating consequences; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The sole purpose of U.S. nuclear weapons should be
7to deter a nuclear attack on the United States, its forces, and
8its allies; there is no reason for the United States to ever
9use nuclear weapons first; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The U.S. President has sole authority to order a
11nuclear attack without any consultation or input; leaving the
12decision to one individual increases the chance of a nuclear
13weapon being used; and
 
14    WHEREAS, A policy renouncing the first use of nuclear
15weapons would severely constrain the ability of the President
16to order a nuclear attack, allowing attacks only in response to
17a nuclear attack; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Americans and all people on the planet should have
19the right to live a life free from the threat of nuclear
20weapons; and
 
21    WHEREAS, The United States should immediately change its

 

 

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1policies, as well as actively pursue verifiable agreements with
2other nuclear-armed nations to reduce the number of nuclear
3weapons and eliminate them from the planet; therefore, be it
 
4    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
5HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that,
6as an important first step, we call on the President of the
7United States to make it the policy of the U.S. that it will
8not start a nuclear war and therefore will not use nuclear
9weapons first, and we call on the United States Congress to
10pass legislation supporting this policy; and be it further
 
11    RESOLVED, That we call on Congress to not fund the
12development and production of additional U.S. nuclear weapons
13that can produce a relatively small nuclear explosion, making
14them suitable for rogue nuclear war-fighting and potentially
15lowering the threshold to using nuclear weapons first; and be
16it further
 
17    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
18delivered to the President of the United States, the Vice
19President of the United States, the U.S. Senate Majority
20Leader, the U.S. Senate Minority Leader, the U.S. Speaker of
21the House, the U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader,
22and all members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation.